Double Vision
by Midnight Rosedrop
Summary: During her time at Gravity Falls Kaitie has tons of questions whose answers bring more questions. Her questioning turns into a battle with Bill over her own body and mind. What becomes of both of them if she loses? If he loses? Can there be a tie? Who deals with the aftermath? Most importantly, how does someone fight something without knowing it's there?
1. Prolouge

When you look at the world with a practical and objective point of view, the entire world will appear to be run with logic, consequences, probabilities, and some mathematical formulas beyond our human understanding. Many people don't view the world this way and it is not wrong of them to do so. Who would want to focus on the reality and darker side of the truth, when instead, they could see the beautiful harmony that arises from illogical human behavior, people breaking the molds, going above and beyond the expectations set for them and proving that against all odds, and against everyone else's beliefs, that they can make something. Be it of themselves, their companions, or seemingly out of nothing.

Kaitie however, did not fall into either of these categories.

Kaitie was, by all appearances your average, everyday teenage girl, if not a bit dressy. Her brown hair was often left down and her green eyes were nothing particularly noteworthy. Her face was never done up in makeup and had the average amount of acne any teenager would have. And while she almost always wore jeans and running shoes, not many people could say that they could recall her wearing anything but a nice blouse that had a bit of a business air to it. Her grades were rather average, consisting of mostly C's and B's, and she appeared to have no outstanding traits other than a rather friendly and optimistic view. If someone were to take her at face value, they'd have assumed she was a goody-two-shoes that was generally well-liked and rarely bullied.

Generally liked...

That would be incorrect. You see, Kaitie had this small tiny tick that often led to misunderstandings, awkward situations, and much more often than not, with Kaitie having what her parents dubbed as an 'attack'. Ever since her parents could remember, Kaitie had a problem when it came to separating fiction and imagination with reality. On more than one occasion, Kaitie had mistaken her stuffed animals as living beings, she'd ask her parents if one of her favorite t.v. characters could come visit and even mistook certain non-existent creatures (i.e. unicorns, gnomes, zombies, vampires, etc...) in pictures, paintings, statues and carvings as beings too. And, in nearly every time it was some supernatural nonsense, the obscure creature would be sentient.

Her parents had explained on more than one occasion what separated reality and whatever was going on in her mind when she was younger, around four years old to be more precise. It had seemed like the right thing to do. After all, many children grow up with imaginary friends and there are times when an adult needs to step into teach the child what the difference is between truth and figments of imagination. So being the good parents that they were, they sat down together, all three of them, and approached the topic admirably. If it was any other child, they would have been the parents of the year. Unfortunately, Kaitie wasn't another child but herself, and as she was told that the world she saw and lived in was nearly all merely a piece of a lie she had told herself, caused her world to fall apart.

At first, her parents thought that Kaitie was just trying to compute everything as she was staring off into space. Then her brows furrowed. Her eyes teared up, small hands reached for her own head and a blood curtailing scream was heard.

Needless to say, the neighbors called the cops, afraid that there was child abuse happening within Kaitie's home. It took a few days to get everything straightened out, but when Kaitie's parents were told that whenever someone told Kaitie that something she believed to be real wasn't, she would have a migraine, they became extremely overprotective of her. They did try to give her space and leave the city but their jobs wouldn't allow it. Instead, they took out the t.v., removed the picture books, and forbade her from drawing. Kaitie's 'condition' only became more

Kaitie's 'condition' only became more prevalent as she grew up. She had begun talking to her own mental conjuration of characters and continued to see them with her mind's eye even after she had a mental breakdown after being told that they were fake.

After being told of Kaitie's 'condition' a lot of people thought that they could deal with it. They tried to befriend her, but they had always struggled and it never really panned out. She wasn't hated per-say, but no one could say she had many friends outside her mind, or if she even had any.

When Kaitie was about to enter her junior year of high school she realized that she was on the fast track to crazy-town. She had heard her teachers and parents of other kids talk to her own parents about putting into a mental institute to help her with whatever was going on in her mind. Kaitie had heard it since she was a child, but her parents had remained steadfast. That was until recently. They were worried that Kaitie would wind up hurting herself at some point or even believe in some horror story character that would permanently scar her mind. She did not want to go to a home for nut jobs, even if she was one herself. She had managed to live her life

She did not want to go to a home for nut jobs, even if she was one herself, which she had come to believe. She had managed to live her life for sixteen years without any severe problems, and at times her condition had actually helped her in the long term. So after overhearing a conversation between her parents, she ran.

She ran away from home with a surprisingly good amount of supplies and managed to get to a train, and later found herself at a bus station.

"Where's the most remote stop?" She asked one of the other people at the bus stop.

"Gravity Falls."

"Thank you."


	2. The First Steps

On the bus ride, Kaitie was looking out the window, trying to come up with an actual plan. When she had escaped through the window the previous night she had planned on going to the most remote and secluded place and find a place to camp before starting a new life under the alias of Samantha Carte. After she had actually had time to think about it on the bus ride, she was progressively growing more and more worried. She definitely couldn't actually start a new life, much less with an alias. It was the tail end of summer and she'd have to start school soon. In addition, she couldn't actually get an alias. That dealt with a lot of illegal stuff and required a computer. She was genuinely disappointed in herself for somehow forgetting all those key details.

Though, she supposed she did have worse plans before. It shouldn't have been too out there considering she had been so frazzled after she had heard her parents. It was just that this plan would be a major turning point in her life and she knew it would be. Just not to what extent. Maybe she could get a job. Then she would have money to pay for food while she was camping. It was a good idea in theory, but it didn't fix the school problem.

Even if she found a job, she didn't look like a high school graduate, and she'd need to go to school. If she didn't, surely someone would notice and they'd call the cops, who'd call her parents, who'd drag her back home if she was lucky. More than likely, she would be sent to a mental facility. Two of her friends were on the bus with her and they did not help calm her at all. Rather, they aggravated her own doubts.

Bodie, the woodland sprite, was gone on saying, "You don't even know if you're allowed to camp. You may wind up breaking the law or something! Quickest way to getting caught by the police Kaitie."

"Since when did you become such a goodie two shoes?" a humanoid green hairstreak butterfly, with human proportions commented.

"Oh, what about you Vierda? Aren't you suppose to be the heaven-sent angel who can do no wrong?"

"What's so wrong with Kaitie being free?"

"The fact that now Kaitie will really be seen as crazy now." Bodie turned to look at Kaitie, "How are you going to explain this to your parents now?"

"I'll figure it out when the time comes." She muttered rather ashamed of herself.

"Sure you will kid."

"Will you shut up you stupid wood carving!" Vierda exclaimed loudly.

"I'll shut it when I feel like it!" The portly, branch-like creature fluttered around Kaitie somewhat protectively around her head. "Kaitie hasn't even considered what could go wrong. You and Carol talked her into this!"

"Did you want her in that cage filled with people who can't understand free will?"

"No!"

"Then what?"

"She could've talked to them! They're her parents! They'd understand! I doubt someone like you could understand that though."

It had gone all too far in Kaitie's opinion, and she found herself shouting for them to stop. "Bodie! That's going way too far!"

The bus driver looked at Kaitie through the rearview, "Sorry Miss but I can't let you off till the next stop. You'll have to wait till then." There was an uncomfortable period where the only noise was the bus and her friends' whispers. "And miss, the name's Robert, not Bodie."

Kaitie slumped into her seat, not bothering to try and explain herself or her friends. thankfully, for the rest of the ride, Bodie and Vierda were relatively quiet and disappeared from her mind as their voices grew quieter.

When Katie arrived at the bus stop, she soon realized that she'd have to walk a fair distance to actually get to the town. The duffle bag she had packed grew heavier and heavier as she continued down the road that would hopefully lead her to civilization. It had her medicine, an assortment of dried foods, camping gear, a few shirts, and a small sum of cash. When she arrived in the town of Gravity Falls, it had been a half an hour or so since the bus had dropped her off. She decided to grab something to eat. After asking a guy in a white polo shirt and black tie, she resigned herself to eat some joint called Greasy's Diner. She sat at the counter and was trying to keep her duffle bag as inconspicuous as possible when she had been approached by a gray-haired woman with really blue eyeshadow, with one of her eyes closed.

"You new in town peach?" The plump woman said, her voice carrying a unique character to it, but Kaitie paid it no mind and merely nodded. "So, whaddya like?"

Meekly, Kaite replied, "Chicken sandwich please."

The woman gave a hapless smile as she wrote it down. The diner was rather empty, apparently, four o'clock wasn't that much of a busy hour. As such, the waitress decided that she wanted to chat, and the new girl was her target. She came out and rested one arm on the counter while propping up her chin with the other.

"You can call me Lazy Susan. What's your name?"

"Kaitie."

"You just passin' through or have ya' moved here?"

"I was gonna camp."

The woman shot straight up. Her eye narrowed at Kaitie in suspicion. "Wha? Why'd you be doing that?"

Kaitie was oblivious to the skeptical gaze and just shrugged it off, not really replying. The woman turned to head back into the diner's kitchen after sending Kaitie a tense smile, not that Kaitie was able to notice that either. Instead, her attention was turned to the child sitting next to her.

The seven-ish girl had dark brown hair, brown eyes, pink shirt and a purple backpack. "Hi Dora." Kaitie said. Dora was usually a positive influence, though a bit unintelligent.

"Hola!"

"How are you?"

"Muy Bien. How are you?"

"Well enough, where's Boots?"

"He's at the Misty Waterfall, the map said so."

Kaitie just nodded and Lazy Susan brought out the grilled sandwich. After a quick "Thanks.", Kaitie grabbed the sandwich and dug in. The lettuce and tomato were a welcome burst of freshness and the chicken contrasted it beautifully with it hot temperature and barbeque-ish seasoning. Susan watched her as she ate and eventually set a glass of water by Kaitie who drank it gratefully.

After a few minutes, the door opened to an old man with a long gray beard, glasses with green lens, and a worn hat. He was walking in a sort of squat as he walked straight up to Lazy Susan with a serious face that seemed a bit out of place.

"Where's the supernatural hootenanny ya'll be callin' me here 'bout?" He all but yelled at Susan out of habit.

Susan leaned down to whisper in the old man's ear and he turned instantly, looking at Kaitie who hadn't noticed the exchange. He quickly scampered over to the barstool next to Kaitie and sat like an animal. After staring at Kaite for ten or so seconds, at a distance which would invade any normal person's personal space, she finally noticed him.

"Hi!" She said in a spirited voice.

"Why'd you been wantin' ta' hang out in these here parts missy?" This time his voice was more judgemental than anything else.

"Um..." Kaitie tried desperately to come up with an excuse. "I like camping?"

Something on the old man beeped and he asked, "An' da' truth?"

Kaitie continued to stutter, trying, and failing to come up with a good lie. Finally, she muttered, "Nothing important."

There was another beep.

"Now ya lis'en here missy, I don' have ta time to be a'wastin' on dealin' wit' you, so you best tell me the hones' truth when I ask ye a question." He leaned in even closer, "What in tarnation are ya gonna do out in those woods?"

"Camp!"

No beep.

"Why?"

"No reason."

Beep.

"Ay' asked' ya why."

Kaitie was quiet. She made a move to grab her bag, but it was quickly snatched by the old man who'd just now noticed it.

"That's mine!" Kaitie exclaimed, but the old man showed no regard for her as he emptied out the bag onto the floor.

"Now looky wha' we have here!" He shouted with a mix of joy and pride. He started prancing around along the tiled floor as Kaitie looked on in near horror. "All yer missin' here is ta banjo, an' yad be a genuine 'illbilly!"

Kaitie bent down suddenly and hastily tried to pick up all of her stuff. She reached for the small wad of cash before the old man grabbed it.

"What are you doin' here lil' miss?"

His tone had shifted from a crazy old kook to a more intelligent and suspicious sage or something. The change was so abrupt Kaitie found herself shying away from him.

"How 're we supposed ta trust ya, when yer aren't a tellin' us ta truth?"

"Faith and good will?"

"Are ye religious or do ye really think t'at we're t'at gullible?"

Kaitie was a bit peeved by that particular comment and her voice clearly displayed it. "Isn't faith a part of life? That's what holds people together. The faith in people to do what's right and the faith that they'll be there when you need them the most?"

The old man was quiet for a bit as he pondered her words over in his mind. "T'en you wouldn't mine tellin' us why ya gonna be spen'en yo'r time in 'at forest."

Kaitie was quiet and embarrassed. He had cornered her with her own words.

"Wha happen' ta all t'at talk 'bout faith an' good will?" He eyed her carefully, as though appraising her. "Yer jus' a wanna be good girl, who can't take 'er own a'vise. Is t'at what ya are? A wannabe protagonis'. Ah' tink' yer jus' a cracked up teen can' staan' ta face reality."

That was the straw that broke Kaitie's back. It was far too close to home.

"I'm not going to go to some stupid psychiatric ward with a bunch of nutcases!"

The old man doubled back for a minute before an expression of empathy crossed his face followed by the unusual one of understanding. Kaitie was still fuming and tried to make a grab for her money, but the old man deftly brought just out of her reach, before surprising her when he said, in a tome implying comradery, "Yer a runner ain't chya."

Kaitie, in the middle of her attempt to grab her money, lost her balance, and with the least amount of grace possible, fell on her face. She looked at the old man through her hair in surprise, and from what the two adults could tell, fear. After that brief moment, she quickly scampered up and ran out the door tripping over her own feet. She heard the old man yelling at her to come back, but she ignored him as much as possible. She eventually found herself in the woods, and much to her surprise, when she glanced back, the old man had stopped at the very edge of the woods and had yet to stop yelling at her. The moment that she had turned to glance at him, she had heard something behind her.

Bell, a blonde pixie, dressed in green leaves, appeared before her. "Oo. What's that Kate?" The three-inch personage inquired. Kaitie looked at the curious tinkerer with exasperation.

There was the snap of a twig and the rustling of tree leaves before the sound of a great footstep behind her. Leaves shot up from the ground as the wind carried them away from both the sound and Kaitie. At that moment all the colors became cold, their warm and welcoming appearance hadn't changed, but the atmosphere certainly had. Kaitie felt a hot and humid wave of air blew on her whilst her skin prickled at the sudden chilling fear she had racing through her system.

"Lil' miss! Get out o' 'ere!" The old man's voice held the ring of desperation that truly convinced Kaitie to run. She looked out at the edge of the woods and ran. She raced out with no notion of wondering what was happening and wound up running directly into the old man, knocking him down and falling over herself.

"What was that?" Kaitie asked determinedly.

"Nevernin' all t'at. Lets ge' you a place for tanight."

Kaitie numbly nodded as she followed the old man into town. "Name's Fiddleford Mcgucket!" He was excited and very open to socializing with the teenager now that he knew why she was here. "I'm a'suspectin' yall gonna wanch yoa stuff, now won'chya?"

Kaitie nodded.

"Well t'en we'll need ta see Lazy Susan." He began walking in stride, albeit a strange type of stride. He never had his legs at an angle more than 110 degrees. He had a sense of pride coming from him as he marched down the street. "Come on now. We a got to be a'hurryin' Lil' Miss!"

Kaitie was meekly following the man with a hung head. This man had realized she was a runaway too quickly. She would never be able to stay out of that asylum if her parents had found her right after she ran away. She wanted to prove to them that she was plenty capable of living her life despite her 'disorder'. But she couldn't do much without her bag.

Mr. Mcgucket led her to the diner and she was surprised at the sheer number of people it had in it. It seemed to have gone from having been empty to holding half the town. It was livelier than anywhere she had been in her life. Too bad, she'd be forced to go back to the city soon.

No one had noticed them walk in. It wasn't strange for people to come to the town for some research and she was with Old Man McGucket. The two approached Susan and collected Katie's stuff. Susan had meekly apologized to Kaitie for the misunderstanding and was about to explain herself when some cops came in. She turned her attention to them and left Kaitie to Mr. McGucket.

Kaitie was surprised when McGucket had grabbed her by the wrist and snuck them out in a very peculiar fashion, involving the window, a squirrel and a handful of acorns he had stashed in his beard. After following the strange man a good distance she stopped and finally spoke.

"Why didn't you just leave me with the police?"

McGucket paused and looked at her, no emotions on his visage.

"You could've just left me to them and then you wouldn't have to deal with me.

As McGucket was about to answer her, a heavyset man came in."Sup dawgs. What's up?"

"Oh!" Mcgucket exclaimed. "Well, I was a'gunna take the kid and get 'er a place for ta nigh' and bam!" He clapped his hands for effect. "Ya jus' walk in an' so've all ta' problems like that" Another clap. "You're the bes' bomb-diggety frien' to say ya can take 'er Soos."

"I am?" Soos asked, "I am!" he affirmed.

Mcgucket handed Kaitie's belongings over to him and Soos happily hummed a tune as he all but skipped to some run-down shack. There was moss all over the roof and the sign was in shambles.

Before Kaitie even realized she had stopped and wound up staring at the ginormous disaster waiting to happen, the man spun around as though he was in a Broadway musical and flamboyantly waved his arms in a welcoming fashion and announced, "Welcome to the Mystery Shack!"


	3. The First Questions

Kaitie was soon ushered into the shack by the smiling Soos. The first thing that she saw was some sort of wolf-horse hybrid. It had the body of a wolf and the head of a horse; in front of it was a folded paper with the words written, 'The Great Lupin Centar'. It turned it's head to look at her before returning to his pose. Many other strange creatures filling the room glanced at Kaitie momentarily before returning to their seemingly uncomfortable poses.

"Here's the Mystery Shack," Soos said again.

Kaitie looked around the room, taking in all the peculiar animal in, trying to understand what she was seeing. "Ah…" She began, wondering how a human could live with so many things. "Okay."

Soos smiled. "Mr. Pines and Mr. Pines left town three days ago." Kaitie nodded numbly, trying to follow the conversation. He suddenly turned to her and looked her in the eye, narrowing his own. "How good are you at fixing things?"

"I'm oka-"

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack! Mr. Pines will be so proud!" Soos was puffing out his chest in pride, grinning from ear to ear.

"Huh?"

"If you're gonna stay here you'll have to work. We don't give handouts." He was blunt, but there seemed to be no seriousness behind his words. "Mr. Pines would be so proud." He turned his attention back to Kaitie, "You are the new Mystery Shack Handyman! - Or is it Handywoman? But your still a girl so is it Handygirl? Handykid? Handylady? Handylady! You're the new Handylady!"

"This is just for a night. Right?" Kaitie asked hesitantly.

"Yep! But we can't let you be a freeloader."

"Okay... I suppose that makes sense."

"Of course it does! It's Mr. Pines rule."

Still a bit confused Kaitie asked, "Who's Mr. Pines?"

"He's only the greatest man to every run the Mystery Shack." He pulled out some poorly made yellow statue of some weird old guy. He had glasses, a fez, and a worn-out suit that looked a lot like Soos's. Soos began to talk but his voice faded into the background as Kaitie saw the yellow man smiled and waved at her.

"Hi there. I'm Mr. Mister Pines. Who are you?" Kaitie never had the chance to reply. "I think you're a sad kid."

"Huh?"

"You're a runaway right? There must've been a lot of bad stuff that happened. You're going to be okay. You can trust Soos." He looked at Soos who hadn't seemed to recognize that there had just been a conversation, nodded and returned to posing, making a weird face every so often as Kaitie listened to Soos a bit more.

Eventually, Soos finished his shpiel and helped get Kaitie settled into a room. It was nice. There wasn't anyone else there which was weird but provided her with some comfort. She had gone to bed that night tired and too exhausted to process any new information.

* * *

When a doorbell rang in the early afternoon the following morning- Kaitie was surprised that there was a doorbell in the rickety- but since Soos was busy she opened the door to reveal Mcgucket.

"Howdy there Lil' Miss." The old man said, coming through the door unabashedly. "Hiya Soos!" Mcgucket shouted into the actual mystery shack part of the house.

"Hello." Kaitie murmured softly.

"Hey there Old Man Mcgucket!" Somehow Soos had managed to close up shop for the moment which didn't seem possible but who knew.

"I was jus' pickin' Lil' Miss up an' getten 'er a place."

"Dude, she could totally stay here ya know." Soos commented without hesitance.

"Ah suppose at'll work. You don' t'ink tat it'll any be trouble woodya?"

"Nah. She's really good at fixing stuff. You should see the sink. She fixed it up in half an hour." Soos chuckled a bit, "She didn't even use the duct tape."

Kaitie stood there bashful. You shouldn't use duct tape to fix the sink. It left a sticky residue and could easily peel off after the sink was used long enough. However, she kept her thoughts to herself as she stood there awkwardly, unwilling to take part in the decision making. She was already on thin ice and Mcgucket had been pretty upset with her the day before. Actually, now that she thought about it, she still wasn't sure why he still hadn't taken her to the authorities. Not that she was upset about it or anything, but she was worried that she wouldn't be able to prove to her parents that she could live on her own.

"T'at remin's me." Mcgucket said turning to her, "What grade dya in Lil' Miss?"

"Um..."Kaitie said, tripping over her own tongue, surprised that she was even included in the conversation, "I'm in 10th grade." She stated tensely.

"Okey dokey! Le's get'chya signed up!" McGucket grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her out the door. "School's already started 'ere, but we'll get'chya in."

At first, one could only see the pure confusion that painted Kaitie's face, but that slowly morphed into resignation as Mcgucket began rambling on and continued to ramble till they got to the school.

When they did get to the school, it was very- dark. Browns and grays filled her vision with only a faded yellow being used to contrast the cold demeanor. Mcgucket had navigated their way to the main office and had gotten some guy's attention.

"What you need now old man?" The man's voice was as dull as the walls were. "Corduroy's in testing right now and she's not getting called out again."

"Aw, shucks. I wasn' lookin' for icy. I need ta' get Lil' Miss enrolled 'ere."

Needless to say, Kaitie was then looked over in suspicion. "You know the rules Mcgucket, she's human correct?"

"Abosoultoodily."

"Not someone you found out in the woods right?"

"What's wrong with the woods?" People freaked out when she said she was camping, then they asked if she was human and now they were worried about the woods? Did they have something against non-humans? Then why was the school filled with beavers? Honestly there were a ton of them running around. They were loud and beginning to get on her nerves.

"Never mind all that." Came the synchronized answer of everyone in the office and the man's demeanor shifted into a welcoming and warm educator.

"We'd love to welcome you into our school Ms..."

"Kaitie Wells"

"Come right this way, we'll get your schedule straightened out now."

"Really?"

"Of course."

She was ushered into an office and she was given her options. It was a strange experience though. They just accepted whatever level she said she was at. Freshman English, Physics, Calculus, and no history. They just rolled with it and offered her electives to which she decided to take some engineering elective and some chemistry lab thing. With the short amount of classes they offered her attendance waivers where she could go off during school. On her own. Unsupervised. That took quite a bit of mental processing for her. The sheer strangeness made her doubt this was real.

Was it real?

Maybe she was just imagining it, was she really in the nuthouse and this entire town was a lie?

No. She didn't think so.

But, then again, she didn't think so last time either. With deep, calming breaths, Kaitie reproaches the situation in her head again. She most definitely did sleep on a very comfortable bed last night and she definitely did get soaked while fixing that sink. This was real.

"She's livin' with Soos for now."

Oh, that's right, they were still talking. Kaitie should actually listen to the conversation. It was serious and, more importantly, it was real.


End file.
